Gersen: Well in May only Witcher 2 and HOMM 6 would be sure buy (if HOMM6 wasn't released by Ubi), I am still yet not convinced by DNF nor FEAR3 and I wouldn't want to touch Fable 3 with a ten billion kilometers long pole (I had the "honor" of playing part of it on XBox, IMHO the worst Fable yet but then again I am not a huge Fable fan to begin with), also I am not sure Brink is really interesting in solo.
So in the end I guess the only game I will buy in May is probably going to be Witcher 2.
I always feel like Fable games don't get a fair shake and it's mostly Molyneux's fault, for hyping them. Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe they are bad.
When someone says "Fable games are linear", I buy that, they are. Linear isn't always bad and it's not like we went from an open sandbox Fable game to a linear set of sequels. If anything Fable has managed to make their linear areas feel and look more open than they actually are. So I don't count it as a knock against it, other than it's not what the big M promised.
When I heard "the morality is stupid" well that's vague and possibly valid or possibly not, I can't do much with that one. "Combat is lame," is also vague, I mean Fable has always been "equip the biggest sword or spell and get awesome with it" this mechanic has never been challenging really (if you want challenging combat, there are games for that, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow comes to mind). I think they actually did a pretty good job making the player feel like a Hero, something beyond human, in this last installment with the flourishes.
I can totally buy that Fable isn't the game you wanted to play. That seems reasonable. But if you avoid anything Molyneux is spewing, Fable seems to do pretty well living up being what it is. It's an epic story (a fable, duh!) where you play a Hero, one of those people who is more than human and shapes the world around themselves.
As an addendum, anyone who paid 60 bucks for Fable when it first came out and got that truncated storyline because they had to ship before it was finished has every right to be pissed. That copy was my birthday present that year... grr!